Part of a series on domestic violence in Springfield and Greene County. Need help? See related story.
“Domestic assault” is a crime defined in part by the relationship between abuser and victim.
How does Missouri law define a “domestic” relationship?
Let’s start with Missouri Revised Statutes 565.002 (6):
A “domestic victim” is a household or family member as the term “family” or “household member” is defined in section 455.010, including any child who is a member of the household or family.
OK. How does section 455.010 (7) define “family” or “household member”?
“Spouses, former spouses, any person related by blood or marriage, persons who are presently residing together or have resided together in the past, any person who is or has been in a continuing social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, and anyone who has a child in common regardless of whether they have been married or have resided together at any time.”
In other words, a domestic relationship, as defined by state law, can reach far back into one’s personal history.
Before there were “domestic assault” charges, there were only assault charges, such as when one guy at a bar punches another guy he doesn’t know at the bar or hits him over the head with a beer bottle.
Today, some prosecutors call this “common assault” to distinguish it from “domestic assault.”
To further distinguish between a case in which, for example, one college roommate assaults another, the term “intimate partner violence” often is used to define what is generally called “domestic violence.”
Laws changed as the anti-domestic violence movement grew
Laws changed and “domestic assault” charges were created across the nation as the movement to fight domestic violence grew. The new charge was needed to account for the different dynamics of domestic violence, which include fear, intimidation, power and control.
“So if you have two people in a bar fight, the two most common issues there are substance abuse and anger management issues,” said prosecutor Emily Shook, who leads the Greene County domestic violence unit.
“So that is a conflict resolution problem,” she said. “Like if somebody cut in front of you in line or talked to your girl or whatever. That's not an ongoing abuse dynamic; it’s just two people who didn’t resolve their differences in a very adult and legal way.”
Under the law, she said, there are actions and conduct that warrant a criminal “domestic assault” charge that would not be criminal under a “common assault” charge.
One example is that domestic assault in the fourth degree can include placing a “domestic victim in apprehension of immediate physical injury by any means,” as well as: “The person knowingly attempts to cause or causes the isolation of such domestic victim by unreasonably and substantially restricting or limiting his or her access to other persons, telecommunication devices or transportation for the purpose of isolation.”
Shook also mentioned that choking/strangulation is specifically mentioned in domestic assault because it is so often used against victims.
A common assault conviction cannot be used in enhancing a domestic assault in the fourth-degree case, where prosecutors can up the charge to a felony if there have been two or more prior convictions for domestic assault in the fourth degree.
“I can’t mix common assaults in there,” she said.
One big advantage to having specific domestic assault charges, she said, is that when looking at a defendant’s criminal history, she can quickly determine if there is a pattern of domestic violence.
In other words, she does not have to pore over common assault convictions to see if they were incidents of domestic violence. That’s because the word “domestic” is right there in the charge.
The biggest difference in how defendants are treated once released on bond, or when placed on probation, is where the offender can live.
That is not a concern when two strangers in a bar come to blows.
